As a business owner and a manufacturer, I feel we need to fight for the limelight. There are so many sexier things to talk about or highlight than manufacturing in today’s society. Between a POTUS tweet or a Kardashian Instagram post, how can we get attention on us? Well, this story is not about manufacturing, but what happened within manufacturing over the last 16 years that should remind people of hope that good people and good work are still at the forefront of today.

For the injection molding industry, VistaTek has been notified by our resin suppliers that PP, and HDPE production has been suspended (Force Majeure Declaration) for the short term by INEOS, Formosa, LynodellBassel, and others due to Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Please stay tuned. This will most likely affect availability of these resins through the 3rd quarter.

It was brought to my attention by one of my customers that John Bozzelli has public seminars in Chicago and Detroit area, but not the Minneapolis area. Since John is the leader in Scientific Molding, and getting close to retirement age it would be great to have him local and learn from his vast knowledge before he retires and all this knowledge is gone.

VistaTek continues to bridge the gap between real world manufacturing and the academia world. Students at the University of Minnesota had created a new product that was part of the fidget phenomenon. They had a great concept with perfect timing. They just needed a little love regarding the manufacturing and the design to make it manufacturable at a competitive price.

Earlier this year, material prices across the industry have greatly increased. Check out the chart below to see the official new pricing for some of our resin material, as these new prices may affect your current and/or future projects with us.